Overview

• Author: Suzanne Chiodo
• Pages: 1-14

1

Chapter 1

OVERVIEW

A. INTRODUCTION

On 24 June 1982, Attorney General Roy McMurtry announced to the

Ontario legislature1 that the Ontario Law Reform Commission had com-

pleted its Report on Class Actions.2 The result of six years of deliberation

and running to nearly 900 pages, the OLRC Report was widely hailed as

one of the most comprehensive treatments of the subject, covering almost

every aspect of class actions in exhaustive detail. It was accompanied by

draft legislation and had been especially commissioned by the attorney

general, with McMurtry stating the following year that he regarded class

action reform as “a high priority. I would expect to be discussing these

issues . . . with my cabinet colleagues in the early autumn, with a view to

possibly bringing f‌irst reading legislation before the House by the end of

the year.”3

1 Ontario, Legislative Assembly, Ocial Report of Debates (Hansard), 32nd Parl, 2nd

Sess (24 June 1982) (Roy McMurtry), online: http://hansardindex.ontla.on.ca/

hansardeissue/32-2/l087.htm.

2 Ontario Law Reform Commission, Report on Class Actions (Toronto: Ministry of the

Attorney General, 1982) [OLRC Report].

3 Ontario, Legislative Assembly, Ocial Report of Debates (Hansard), 32nd Parl, 3rd

Sess (17 June 1983) (Standing Committee on Administration of Justice, Estimates,

Ministry of the Attorney General), J-173, Ontario Law Reform Commission f‌iles, Nov

1976–Dec 1982, Project name: class actions, RG 4-66, BA77, Box No B380537, North

York, Archives of Ontario.